A Bavarian style lager, light copper colored, medium build beer with a malty finish. In Bavaria, this beer is usually brewed in late summer to celebrate the bringing in of the harvest. With a fresh Festbier in hand, your celebration of the chilly “Mardi Gras” season will warm your heart.

Poured from a 12 ounce bottle into a cervoise glass. No visible best before date. Twist-off cap.

A: Very little head. It fizzes and disappears almost instantly. The beer is a pellucid gold, with no carbonation/agitation.

S: Sharply lagery; sourdough bread dough.

T: Surprisingly, it's actually pretty good. Primarily sweet, with a strong supporting malt base that preserves the sense of sourdough indicated by the nose. Toasty and slightly buttery, this is a damn good Oktoberfest.

M: Only lightly carbonated, with a persistent sweet-dry maltiness that I'm not entirely sure if I like lingering.

O: Normally a style I avoid, Covington has done an excellent job in creating this Oktoberfest. I would drink it again, if not regularly, and it is exceedingly pleasant.

NOTE: BA has this one mislabeled. So, Heiner Brau offer TWO Festbiers. One is in Fall and the other is in Mardi Gras. The Mardi Gras beer is much lighter take on what a Marzen is supposed to be. Reviewers here should specify which one they drank, because it makes a big difference.

A - The color is a fantastic ochre with a little clarity too it. IT pours about a one inch off-white head with very little lacing. It looks like a Marzen, but the head is a bit thin.

S - Very, very good. The malts are very fuity. Most of the fruit is like strawberry with a caramel apple running slightly behind it, and a very 'Heiner Brau' yeast characteristic underneath.

T - Good! Right up front, this is a malty beer. And it runs really fruity on the front of the tongue, again I would say strawberry and banana malty goodness. Not much burnt malt at all, but a little caramelization in the middle. Slightly bitter blackberry/strawberry finish on the back of the palate that keeps it very drinkable and not at all cloying.

M - Perhaps a little slick for this style. Do sense diacetyl in there? Any how, just above average for an Octoberfest here. Though again not heavy at all. I think perhaps the weak carbonation has to do with the mouthfeel.

O - A conservative take on the style. IT's brewed, in many ways, to really emulate what this beer should be and only really falls short on the foam.

A: Pours a very light amber with a 1.5 finger head. Really active carbonation. This is way lighter and more transparent than most Marzens I've had.

S: Bready malts, slight nuttiness, and some metallic aromas. Smells fairly status-quo for the style, just to a lesser extent. This is right there beside the sweetest examples of the style, also fairly highly hopped.

T: This is very nutty, like it was brewed with walnut shells or something similar. The typical bready malt, high sweetness, and some grassy hops are all here. The flavor seems subdued when compared with the top of the style. Man, that nutty flavor is prominent. If only they turned the malts up some more.

Picked up a sixer at Rouses in NoLa. My hopes weren't high, but this beer is pretty far off the marks. There's a slight acidic tang to the finish-not good-and the amber beer is hazy. The nutty toasty malt note is interesting, but a bit out of place. The body is on, but this is not a good example of a fest beer. Move along, nothing to drink here.

Pours a light amber with a small amount of whitish head, The nose is a pretty strong dose of malt sweetness, almost a bit darker in flavor than expected. The taste is oddly sweet and yet also dry, a weird version of an Oktoberfest type beer that doesnt really come together. Bready, yeasty, weird. Doesn't taste good in a way that is hard to put my finger on. Medium low carbonation. Overall, just not much of a success.

Mouthfeel: sweet, high carbonation that is bordelrine prickly, light body

Overall: Must like malts to enjoy this one as it is full of them. Not overly complex, but clean and sessionable for the style. If I were not grading to style, though, I think this one would be more in the C+ to B- range.

Heiner Brau Mardi Gras Festbier has a medium, off-white head and a clear, amber appearance, with lots of bubbles streaming up, but not much lacing left behind. The aroma is faint, but one picks up some floral hops and water. Taste is grassy, and some piney hops show up. Mouthfeel is light to medium, and Heiner Brau Mardi Gras Festbier finishes crisp, refreshing, and mostly dry. Overall, this is a very good beer, and I recommend you give it a try.

Overall:This is a good brew. It is warming and inviting. The pleasantness of the flavor keeps you wanting more. It is light enough so that I could drink many of these, and heavy enough to satisfy my taste buds.

The beer pours a clear pale yellow color with a white head. The aroma is corn, malt sweetness and wheat. The flavor is corn with some malt. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation. Tastes a lot like a macro lager, nothing you should seek out.

A: Pours a clear golden color. At first a two finger head rises, but recedes in an instant. No lace.S: Sweet grain and cereal. A sulfur and metallic twang that I don't like at all.T: Sweet grain and cereal again. Caramel is very light. Maybe some grass hops as well. Not much is here, but enjoyable.M/D: A light body with a clean crisp snap of carbonation. Fairly easy and smooth to drink.

Kind of bland and sub par. Nothing really bad, just not exciting at all. This would be a good swilling beer in New Orleans during Mardi Gras though. Which I guess is the point, otherwise I would avoid this.

Pours a mostly clear medium gold color with a frothy bone-white head. Retention is just ok, as is the lacing.

Sweet grainy malts are about all I get on the nose. Perhaps some faint grassy hops if you really look hard. No fruity esters and overall a pretty clean smelling beer.

Very bready flavor, bordering on a loaf of sourdough. Grainy and biscuit notes float in there as well. Just a smidge of toasty malt and mild hop bitterness clean up the palate at the end decently. Reminds me a bit of the Spaten Ur-marzen...a nice malty festbier that goes down smooth and easy. Most likely better than 96% of the beer consumed during Mardi Gras. IMO, this beer carries the name well, it's a good session beer and can be drunk in mass quantities.

Pours a dark amber color that leaves a thin white head which quickly dissipates. Really not much to see here.

Not much going on in the aroma either. Fruity/citrusy and a bit of sweet malt.

Faint taste of caramel and citrus but it seems like the most prominent taste is that of stale bread. A little bit of spice comes through as well and I think the balance that provides helps make the flavor a bit more tolerable.

Fells very light and somewhat watered down. I'd really like to say good things about Heinryk and HB since they're local but there is much to be desired in this one. Maybe I'll give it another try down the line just to see but for now I think it is safe to say I won't be enjoying Mardi Gras with this in hand.

Bottle of the Mardi Gras Festbier (though it's supposedly the same as the Oktoberfest). Pours a perfectly clear light gold-copper with a medium white head that dies quickly, leaving a thin foam sheet and little lacing. Aromas of sweet malt --reminiscent of honey--with some spiciness sneaking in later. The flavor is sweet and malty initially, but quickly gives way to refreshing, sharp hops. Nice dry finish. Mouthfeel is decent; the heavy carbonation works well to make it quite drinkable. I might be in the minority here, but this is a solid lager.

This beer poured a dark copper color with generous white head that lasted for a while. The aroma of the beer is very malty. The taste is also malty, with light hops, sweetness, and a bit of spice. The mouthfeel is good though maybe a little on the thin side. Drinkability is high.

the beer looks like apple juice in my glass. no real head here. the nose is sweet malts. Not too exciting. with the taste of sweet malts as well, nice little hop balance, subtle light fruits. it is medium bodied, has low carbo, pretty crisp and dry of a brew